The Great Slavery Debate

Should slavery be abolished? Students at Constitution High School debate the advantages and disadvantages of abolishing slavery from an antebellum 19th century perspective. Having students focus on the social, economic, cultural, and to some extent political nature of this debate, helps students understand the context of America's "peculiar institution", roadblocks African Americans needed to overcome in order to abolish slavery, as well as frame the upcoming 10th grade American history course. The purpose of this blog is to create a forum in which students can self-reflect and continue the process of peer-to-peer evaluation as they debate in class.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Shamoni vs Elijah

Great preparation can lead to a great debate.  This was a good one today. Elijah delivered 4 arguments to Shamoni's 3.  There was a struggle over the idea if slaves were stolen or actually sold.  Both debaters were not able to resolve this conflict even though Elijah tried to in the rebuttal by accusing his opponent of being "confused" but then stating that they were "stolen".  I think we all were a little confused.  Because the morality argument was left untouched (in this instance having 4 arguments was a good strategy), Elijah ended up taking this debate.  I do want to remind those that are reading that the rights embedded in the Declaration of Independence (written by....) are still up for grabs for both sides.  Good luck to those that will debating in the future!

6 comments:

  1. this debate was amazing i really thought elijah had the lead and than shamoni came back and put him down..nice going elijah coming back up and taking the win with the bible arguement that sort of confused everyone.. good job shamoni you relly tried and i kno you knew what you were talking about..great debate guys

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  2. Um, Thanks Elijah Did Great Yu Really Got Me With Your Bible Argument, But Overall It Was A Really Good Debate. I Knew I Messed Up In My Rebuttal When I Should Of Explained The Reason On How Africans Were Stolen From Their Homeland. Congrats Elijah & It's Always Time For Me To Improve. This Debate Was A Really Big Help For Me To Learn How To Debate Better !

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  3. Great debate Elijah kind of confused me in the beginning but eventually got to his 3 main argument, They were really long and tackled alot of points that were for slavery. Shamonie did a great job had strong arguments, And caught elijah in the cross-examination with her kill question*(define happiness) elijah couldn't give an exact answer SMH !
    but then Elijah came back with a come back lol. His question was about the Trans- Atlantic economy and the trading of slaves ! Shamoni couldn't answer that ... Ugh I'm so glad i wasn't a judge of that argument !
    Watch out for me ! on Friday !
    Get that jawn poppin !! lol

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  4. this was a great debate really it was the best one we had so far because both of there opening arguements we good and they both had nice (cx)

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  5. This debate was great both Elijah and Shamoni had great arguments and showed a great deal of evidence. I think that Elijah's introduction was a little bit to long because, he told to much info about his character But his arguments were strong and he showed nice evidence. Shamoni also proved that she can deliver great evidence and show strong arguments. Overall I believe that both debaters did a great job.

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  6. The fact that Elijagh had 4 arguments gave him a better chance of winning because he came to the table prepare and that gave him a shot to have more than enough evidence to support his arguments so that being said Elijah did have a better chance of winning.! Congrats....

    -Zamiyha

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